In a press release dated January 15, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that False Claims Act (FCA) settlements for the government’s FY 2024 exceeded $2.9 billion. DOJ’s report indicated that a record-breaking 979 qui tam lawsuits were filed by whistleblowers, of which the government and whistleblowers were parties to 558 settlements and judgments. According to the report, the FY 2024 settlements and judgments bring the total amount of settlements and judgments since Congress took action to strengthen the civil FCA in 1986 to more than $78 billion. The report states that DOJ focused its efforts in 2024 toward “combating health care fraud, the opioid epidemic, fraud in pandemic relief programs, and violations of cybersecurity requirements in government contracts and grants.”  

Breaking down the $2.9 billion in FY 2024 settlements and judgments, over $2.4 billion arose from lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the FCA, and approximately $1.67 billion was related to healthcare recovery. In addition to healthcare, other FCA recoveries involved military procurement fraud, COVID/pandemic fraud, misrepresentations on General Services Administration (GSA) contracts, and the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. With respect to procurement fraud, several of the largest settlements involved allegations related to overcharging the Navy for spare parts and materials, knowingly supplying materials that did not meet specifications, and falsifying certain test results.

The DOJ report also cited two large settlements that occurred shortly after the conclusion of FY 2024. One of these matters involved alleged defective pricing in connection with DoD contracts.